Cat Breeds Guide
Have you ever wanted to be able to make your cats realistic, but interesting? Are you intrigued by the world of unique cat colors and patterns? I've put together this guide to help pick a breed, coat color, pattern, and more for your OCs to make them believable but fascination appearance wise. Coat Colors There are technically three cat colors. Black, white and red. Let me explain. Black and red can be "diluted" aka made lighter or changed in hue slightly to make more colors from just black and red. Here are those dilutes: Black Pure black is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Cats this color have brownish highlights and cat have any degree of whitespotting (more on this later). Blue This isn't actually bright blue. Blue cats, also known as "grey" are a straight dilute of black and can range from silver to dark grey to slate-blue. They usually have green or amber eyes. Chocolate Chocolate cats are another dilute of black. they are a dark, "chestnut" warm brown. They can be more black or more tan depending on the breed. Lilac Lilac cats, also called lavender, frost, and platinum, are a dilute of chocolate. They are pale brownish grey with pink or pale violet hints. These are pretty rare and aren't very likely for warriors unless they were escaped kittypets. Not that you can't have a lilac cat, but it's best to use them sparingly for wild born clan members. Cinnamon These cats aren't officially recognized as a coat color, but I thought I should include them just because they are totally possible. Exactly what a cinnamon cat is is controversial, but most define it as a warm, reddish brown-sienna color. Like lilac, cinnamon is quite rare. Fawn These are a dilute of cinnamon and are pretty much a light, orangish beige color, maybe with hints of pink. Again, rare and not likely to show up as a solid coat color, closer to a tabby. Red This is not a derivative or dilute of black. Red cats are their own color entirely like I said above. Red, also called orange or ginger, is a pretty bright orangish-color. They are more likely to be male than female, though, and are always tabby. You can't have a solid red cat, and they will always have some stripes (even if the cat is bred to have less contrast between stripe and fur color). Cream Cream is the dilute of red. It can range from pale peach to milky orangish-yellow, and like with reds, they always have tabby markings. Whitespotting Whitespotting is exactly what it sounds like. And of the coat colors you see above can have white on their coats. Herre is the "degree" of whitespotting on a cat. Disclaimer: These things can totally vary between cats. White can appear pretty much anywhere on the cat and you don't need to memorize your piebald grades or anything. It's just that for some people, having the ability to categorize types can help them loads when making cat characters. Grade 1 No white on the cat (even though they have the gene). Grade 2 Really tiny bits of white. When it's on a little spot on the chest, it's called a locket. I've also heard it be called a bowtie (I mean come on that's adorable). White can also be on toes, belly, etc. When a cat has belly spots, they might be referred to as buttons. Grade 3 A little more white, with a larger patch on the chest, a longer belly stripe, and/or white on the chin/muzzle. When the front paws are covered, it's called mittens, and when the back feet are covered, it's called socks (or even cuter, "booties.") If all feet are white, it's just mitts (so I'll simplify it to mitts). Grade 4 This often forms the famous "tuxedo" pattern. (You'd think some cat fancier was obsessed with pretending cats were wearing clothes with all of these buttons and mitts and bowties and tuxedos). A tuxedo cat generally has white mitts, a white belly and chest, and sometimes a white cheek and muzzle (sometimes a cat can just have little dots of white on the cheeks, muzzle, profile, etc, and it still counts). White tail tips are also often common in Grade 4s. Grade 5 Grade 5 forms the "mask and mantle." This stage, being right in the middle, is often about half-white and half-color. Most charts will show color as just black, but remember this color can be anything--any color, any tabby pattern, and even tortoiseshell. Anyways, the mask and mantle is when the white covers the legs, the neck, the chest, the cheeks, the muzzle, and often the fur around the eyes. So the color forms one continuous shape over the cat's back and tail. Grade 6 Often called a "cap and saddle" Grade 6 cats usually have color left on the forehead and ears, like a cap, and color on the lower back and tail. When there's a fair amount of color on the face and back, it's called bicolor. Grade 7 These cats can be called Harlequin, where no, they do not aid the joker in stopping batman (cat genetics would be so much cooler if they did). In this case, the ears and tail are colored, and a few small colored patches on the legs and body. Grade 8 Grade 8 cats, commonly known as "vans" usually have color reserved for just the tail and ears/forehead, along with the occasional small spot on the back and shoulders. Grade 9 In this case, you have to look closely to see color at all. Color is reserved only for the tail tip, ears, and/or the back of the head. When color is only on the top of the head and back, it's called magpie. Grade 10 These cats have absolutely no color what so ever, even though they have the gene. They can have any possible eye color, though, because eye color correlates to fur color and in this case, you just can't see the fur color (even though it is in the genes). Tortoiseshell Tortoiseshell is a little complicated because a lot of people get confused. How many colors can be in a tortoiseshell? What's the difference between a calico and a tortoiseshell? What do you call it when the tortoiseshell has white? What does "Torbie" or "Caliby" mean? Note: Because tortoiseshell is annoying to type, I'll shorten this to "tortie" because that's a common shortening of tortoiseshell. Basic Tortie A tortoiseshell cat has essentially the two colors I mentioned above: Red and black. The most basic tortoiseshell cat is simply ginger and black is a mottled pattern all the way through. There aren't really distinct patches of either color except maybe on the face--the body is pretty evenly mixed down to the hair. Dilute Tortie These are close to what they sound like--instead of red and black, they have the dilutes of those colors I mentioned at the top. The black gets replaced with blue, lilac, fawn, cinnamon, or chocolate, and the red becomes cream. Note that if the tortie isn't a straight red-black, all of the colors have to be diluted. So a lilac-red, black-cream, or red-cinnamon is impossible. And White You know how when a cat has whitespotting, they're called ___ and white? The blank, of course, being the color of the cat unaffected by the white. The same thing applies to tortoiseshell and white. Torties can have lockets, buttons, mittens, a blaze, whatever. If it's under a grade 4 or so on the piebald scale (see above) it's still called tortoiseshell and white. Calico The more white a tortie has, the more distinct and less brindled the patches become. A calico occurs when a tortie has so much white on it, it's not really blended anymore, and you can label where there is black, where there is red and where there is white (or where there is blue and where there is cream or where there is lilac or etc). Calico's are different from "Torties and Whites" because there is a lot more white, usually the same amount of white as there is the color, and the patches are distinct. Calicos are also called Tricolor. ''' For a cat to be calico and not just tortie and white, they have to be grade 5 or above, meaning the color is on more than just the feet, toes, chest locket, and muzzle. Torbie Torbie is short for tortoiseshell-tabby. These cats have stripes not just in the red or cream (which all torbies have, because remember, reds and creams are always tabby) but they also have stripes in the black color. They generally look a little bit paler, because the background color in tabby cats is lighter, while the stripes are darker. Torbies are also called '''Patched Tabbies '''and '''Tortoiseshell Tabbies. Caliby Can you guess what this is? If you guessed Calico + Torbie, you'd be right! These are exactly like Calicos except the black color is patterned too, just like in the Torbies. All the rules about Torbies apply to them as well. Tortoiseshell Sex? You may have heard that tortoiseshells are only female. While it is true that torties and calicos are almost always girls, male versions are indeed possible. Let me explain. The way this works is very complicated, but pretty simply, it's for the same reason red cats are more commonly male. Male cats have an XY chromosome and females have an XX. The "ginger gene," which makes cats have red fur, is on the X chromosome. Because boys only have one X, they either have total or no ginger. The red fur gene is either active or not. Female cats have two Xs, so the cells deactivate one of the chromosomes. If she has the ginger gene active in only one chromosome, the cells deactivate in a pretty random order so only parts of her may become ginger while the rest is white and/or black (or some dilute of black). In short, male cats are simply more likely to be red because they only need the red fur gene on one chromosome, where the females need it on one to have patches of ginger, let alone two to be fully ginger. And no, ginger females are not sterile. But what about male torties? In the books, we have Redtail and Spiderleg and Sol! Well, male cats can be tortoiseshell. They have to have a feline version of Klinefelter Syndrome, when a guy has an extra X chromosome. This doesn't mean much in humans, and some guys with Klinefelter don't even know it. For cats, though, because males have the two X chromosomes, they can have the ginger gene deactivated and thus can be tortoiseshell! The only problem is that tortie toms are infertile. So you can't have him have kits biologically unless he's a hermaphrodite fused with a female twin in the womb and thus has male and female reproductive systems, but the chances of this happening are super rare and the chances of him being able to father kits are even rarer. So basically, keep your tortie and calico toms limited, and remember they can't have kittens. Colorpoints My personal favorite of all cat markings, colorpoints are super interesting. This pattern defines breeds such as the Siamese, Tonkinese, Balinese, Burmese, Ragamuffin, Ragdoll, and Snowshoe. A colorpoint occurs when dark color is only in the coolest points of the cat, so the face, ears, tail, and paws. Kittens are born white and darken as they grow older, and as cats enter elderhood, they become even darker. The main body is usually very pale, especially in summer, and the points darken in the winter as it gets colder. So, if you choose to design a colorpoint character, make sure to mention their color changing as the seasons go on! The "Color" in Colorpoint My job here is very easy because colorpoints come in all the colors regular cats do. The only difference is that instead of black, the black colorpoint variation, commonly known as seal, 'is pale fawn with dark brown points. For all the other colors (blue, chocolate, lilac, fawn, cinnamon, red, and cream) the points generally look like the normal solid color, while the main body is a very pale cream or pearl or frost color. Just note that cream points are commonly referred to as "'Ivory Points," chocolate points may be "Champagne," 'lilac points are often "'Platinum Points," and red points are sometimes "Flame Points." Other Variations When we think of colorpoints, we most commonly picture the classic siamese-- usually the seal point variety, with a tan body, dark brown points, and sky blue eyes. Not only are there more variations in the typical Siamese associated points within the color, with blue and lilac pointed becoming just as popular as seal, but there are also more variations of colorpoint. Remember that points can have white markings over them, so the cat has white mitts over pointed feet or a white blaze on top of a colorpoint face, and the points can be ticked (like an Abyssinian) and also tipped! Note that while I keep saying "Siamese" for the most typical points, these points can be in any breed, like Himalayan, Tonkinese, Burmese, etc. And a cat doesn't need to be siamese to have colorpoints. They can be totally wild bred.' Fancy cat terms are arbitrary when it comes to wild bred cats. It's just helpful to identify what the cat is to make your character realistic.' Mink Points These are very similar to regular points, except that the contrast on the point color and main body color is slightly lowered. This is most desired in the Tonkinese breed so much that tonkinese is often used interchangeably with "mink." The eye color changes from bright blue to a pale, washed-out teal/aquamarine. The only term that's different is that cinnamon mink can be called "Honey." And sometimes the seal color is referred to as "Natural." Remember for these that when the contrast is lowered, the points don't lighten, the main body darkens. The point color is the same in mink and regular. Sepia Points This, much like mink is most desired in Tonkinese, is most wanted in the Burmese. In this case, the main body color is so dark and so close to the point color sometimes the cat can appear solid in particular lights. At this point, the cat does not have blue or teal eyes and instead boasts beautiful gold or green. Here, seal points may be called "Sable" 'and the entire point type can be called "'Solid." Lynx Point This occurs when the points themselves are striped like a tabby. Sometimes the body can have very faint stripes, but usually the stripes and spots are located on the feet, legs, tail, and face. These can come in all the possible colors but they are most common in blue. Tortie Point Siamese Like lynx point, these cuties (which are one of my favorite kinds of colorpoint) have brindled tortoiseshell fur on the points instead of a solid color or stripes. Pretty self explanatory, but it should be noted that these cats can have very deep blue eyes leaning towards violet. Color Tipping Sometimes you will see a cat that looks weirdly like white, but it isn't. It's a very pale grey, too light to be blue or lilac. But there is definitely grey, or brown, or red, in that cat. So what's happening? Either you've lost your vision or you're looking at a tipped cat! A tipped cat occurs when the individual hairs are multicolored. They are white at the root (the bottom) but are a color on top. These colors can be anything I mentioned above--black, red, blue, lilac, cream, chocolate, fawn, etc. Generally, these cats look darker on the top and paler when you can see the hairs face-first, like on the sides and flank. Shell When a very small bit at the top of the fur is shaded, it's called Shell, Burmilla, '''or Chinchilla. It is also commonly desired in the Persian breed. These can be in any color, and are especially common in black. They look like they have a little bit of pale color on the tops of their bodies and usually looks white on the legs and belly. NOTE: For some red and cream tippings, it can be called '''Cameo. Shaded This is exactly like the Shell, but more of the hair is colored, so the cat looks half-color-half-white. For the black and blue varieties, it can be called Pewter. Smoke These cats have so much of the hair colored they look basically solid, but they usually have a "ruff" or mane on their necks that looks pale. In areas where there is a lot of fur, like the back, tail, and neck, the cat looks paler because you can observe more of the hair and the lighter colored root. Cats like this are generally desired to be longhaired to show off the graduation of colors, but they could be shorthaired. Silver Tabbies You've probably seen a cat before that looks pale grey with dark grey or black stripes. But it's not a black tabby--those are brown with black stripes. Blue tabbies have darker blue on paler blue. So what even is this cat? Silver tabbies are actually a variation of the Shell Tipped Cat. They have the top part of their body colored like a shell, with stripes as well. The most common variety is black based, and they have a white underbelly that goes into a silver/grey upper body like with shell cats. They have dark grey or black stripes and usually hazel eyes. Other Silver Cats Shell can also be blue, chocolate, lilac, red, etc based. They can also have tortie, calico, and torbie patterns in all the dilutes and such. Note that shaded and smoke cats can also be tortoiseshell or calico, but they cannot have tabby markings. MORE COMING SOON! Coming soon: Golden shades Eyes Stripes, spots, and tabbies Ears Tails Fur TYPES OF BREEDS! Category:Public Category:Work In Progress Category:Guides Category:Content (NibbytheBird)